Why Humans Have Cultures: Explaining Anthropology and Social Diversity

by Michael Carrithers

Why Humans Have Cultures examines three basic questions: what unity underlies human cultural diversity? What are the origins of that diversity? How can we understand it? The author argues that it is the ways in which people interact--rather than technological advances--that have been of crucial importance in human history. In this thought-provoking book, Carrithers draws on ancient and contemporary examples to show how this perspective forms a solid foundation for the study of culture, society, and history.

Genres: Anthropology, Nonfiction, Academic, Cultural, Philosophy

230 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1992

About the author

Michael B. Carrithers is a professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Durham, and a member of its Behaviour, Ecology, and Evolution Research Centre.

Reviews

[Chris Tudor · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the most rambling, turgid books I have ever read.

[Nermeena Mohamed]

سأل الفيلسوف اليوناني القديم سقراط سؤالاً ظل صداه يتردد عبر القرون، كيف ينبغي للمرء أن يحيا؟, والسؤال يستلزم أن نتأمل أنفسنا كأفراد تأملاً عميقاً على نحو يفضي إلى أن نغير ما بأنفسنا، ويسأل علماء الأنثروبولوچيا سؤالاً آخر وثيق الصلة، كيف نحيا معاً؟، ومن هنا نشأت تنوع الثقافات، إذ تعد الثقافة ابتكاراً بشرياً يهدف إلى مواجهة الحياة، فهى نهج إنساني إبداعي للتعامل والتفاعل، لكي تمضي الحياة ولا تتوقف أمام الألغاز، كما أن إدراكنا لقيمة الثقافة يمنحنا الوعى الكافي للارتقاء بالمجتمع الإنساني بدلاً من استنزاف الطاقات في مسالك وهمية.

[kasiasiaa · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF
it was cool idea, good easy read until I discovered that i do not remember first 50-60 pages. Then the rest i was reading transformed into rambling.
I completely lost the plot around 100 page and for the love of god i did not want to read it further.

[Buthainah · Rating 1 out of 5]

الكتاب اكاديمي بحت، يبدو كمقدمة عن الموضوع لكنه يفصل ويستطرد دون شرح أو توضيح، الافكار غير منظمة وفيه عشوائية عجيبه.. وما جاوب السؤال الي طرحه كعنوان.

[Gamal soliman · Rating 1 out of 5]

الاسهاب والتطويل اوقعانى فى تيه
شعرت بالكثير من الملل والضجر

[فاروق الفرشيشي · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an introducing book to Anthropology, I didn't find it well organized. So much talking about the techniques used, the notions and the different schools and points of view about how Anthropology should be handled but there's nothing said about what things to get from ethnographic archives.
But I like the example used and the way they were explained and interpreted.
The last chapter is really sufficient to get the idea of the author. Anyway, good book to discover the world of Anthropology.

[Samy · Rating 2 out of 5]

توقفت حينها لان الكتاب ممل وأكاديمى وليس لغير المتخصصين

[Maria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good introductory book, but not the best I've ever read.

[الشناوي محمد جبر · Rating 1 out of 5]

ترتكز الفكرة الأساسية للكتاب علي فكرة حاجة الإنسان للاجتاع بغيره من البشر وهذا نتج عنه الثقافة.
الكتاب ممل جدا ولم أتمه.

[فاطمة الزهراء · Rating 3 out of 5]

كتاب يعالج التنوع الثقافي الانساتي عن طريق الاجابة عن سؤال : لماذا أنتج الانسان الثقافة وما سر تنوعها من منطقة لأخرى ومن عصر لأخر

[Ben · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought poorly of cultural anthropologists before I read this book - and even though this author was not anti-science or anti-biology - he didn't win them any points. I was hoping to learn about all the cool humanities social words like intersubjectivity, but in the intersubjectivity chapter he just rambles about babies looking at things and how they are intersubjective without telling me what it is.

I was reading it this book seriously until after going over E.O wilson's definition of sociality was "not sufficiently biological, and in particular not sufficiently Darwinian." and so it needs a new definition: "Sociality is an inherited trait or traits expressed in individuals organisms, attributable ultimately to the frequencies of genes in the population of which they are members. Sociality is established through the force of natural selection on that population." Then goes on to explain how you wouldn't think so, but this trait can vary between species, not just organisms. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH

So, not wrong - even correct in some twisted fashion- just take some simple facts about humans, like they live in societies and talk to each other are are "causal", aka have actions that affect things, and then put in back and forth through a thesaurus version of google translate a bunch of times to turn each fact into a few pages.